Lausanne (AFP)

Partial unemployment, puncture in reserves, bank loans or call for help from the IOC: the international sports federations, hitherto prosperous, suffer from the cancellation or the postponement of their tests, caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which starved of income.

Almost 2,200 jobs and more than 1 billion Swiss francs (1.05 billion EUR) injected into the economy each year: with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and more than forty international federations based in Lausanne and in the region, the weight of sport in Switzerland is considerable. Not to mention Fifa and its 600 employees based in Zurich.

The disappearance or postponement of major world events and their income, linked in particular to sponsorship and TV rights, can therefore only have serious consequences for the federations which organize them.

If the 600 IOC employees continue their teleworking activity, "this cannot be applied to the staff of the Olympic Museum, closed until June 8," explains the authority. The forty or so employees (reception and restaurant) are therefore "partially unemployed" until the same date.

"Due to the significant drop in activity linked to the cancellation of the 2020 season, Swiss employees are on short-term unemployment for a period of 3 months, a period which will be extended if necessary", explains Jean-Christophe Rolland, the president French of the International Rowing Federation (Fisa).

- "Unprecedented" crisis -

The International Basketball Federation (Fiba) has put "a minority of collaborators on partial unemployment since the beginning of April", that is to say "a dozen people who work in functions directly affected by the suspension of competitions". Same measure at the International Archery Federation.

Another large Olympic federation, which prefers to remain anonymous, placed "all of its staff on partial unemployment" for a period of six months.

At the beginning of April, the International Cycling Union, referring to "an unprecedented crisis", announced a vast savings plan and the use of technical unemployment, at various percentages for "all 130 employees".

"As their competitions are postponed or canceled, many federations have reduced revenue, at least for 2020 and the beginning of 2021," said Andrew Ryan, director general of the Association of International Olympic Summer Sports Federations (Asoif). . "They use partial unemployment measures offered by Switzerland or the equivalent for those based in other countries", like World Sailing, based in London.

Some federations draw on their reserves, have lowered the salaries of their executives or have recourse to bank loans guaranteed by the Swiss Confederation. Thus the International Rowing Federation will "take out a loan in order to preserve the cash somewhat", indicates Mr. Rolland.

- Subsidies -

Many are especially in great need of the subsidies paid by the IOC in the Olympic year and which they had already budgeted for.

This aid, which had reached a total of 520 million dollars (480 M EUR) for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, is distributed among the 28 summer Olympic federations according to their audience and their size and ranges from 7 M USD to the smallest (modern pentathlon, rugby ...) at around USD 40 million for the largest (athletics, swimming and gymnastics).

"If we want to provide the same level of service to athletes and teams in preparation for the Games, we would need an advance on funding" from the IOC, confirms Mr. Rolland.

The Fiba indicates having "regular discussions with the IOC on all subjects related to the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics" and the question of the payment of the IOC contribution "is obviously one of them".

The International Swimming Federation (Fina) for its part must raise the issue with the IOC on Monday.

The IOC, which will also have to face additional costs related to the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics but has USD 1.5 billion in reserves, says that it is "aware of the impact" of the pandemic on the federations and indicates have "already started discussions" with them "on a case-by-case basis".

"Most of the federations are in discussions with the IOC," confirmed Mr. Ryan, adding that "their request for an advance can range from zero to a few million dollars, depending on their cash flow and their reserves".

© 2020 AFP